The Reasons of the Christian Religion Part 1, Part 1 · Chapter 17
CHAP. XVII. What Natural Light declareth of the Mercy of God to Sinners, and of the Means and Hopes of Mans Recovery.
Crede mihi miſeris caeleſtia numina parcent. Nec ſemper laeſos & ſine fine premunt. Ovid. 3. de Pont.§. 1. NOtwithſtanding all this forementioned ſin and guilt and miſery of man, and Juſtice of God, Experience aſſureth all the Earth, that Great Mercy is ſtill continued to them, and that they have to do with a Moſt Merciful God.
Mens Lives are continued even while they ſin: Patience endureth them: Time is vouchſafed them: Food and rayment, and Friends and Habitations, and health and eaſe and liberty is given them:When Piſo in Cicero ſeeketh after the ſummum bonum, he proceedeth by theſe ſteps, 1. Omnem naturam eſſe ſui conſervatricem. Neminem eſſe qui ipſe ſe oderit. 2. Neminem eſſe qui quomodo ſe habeat, nihil ſua cenſeat intereſſe: 3. Hominum é corpore & animo conſtare, primaſque animi partes eſſe, & ſecundas corporis. 4. Animum aliquid agere ſemper, ne que ulla conditione quietem ſempiteinam poſſe pati. 5. Bona eſſe quae naturae conveniunt, cam que perficiunt. 6. Animi duo genera eſſe virtutum; 1 Naturales, viz. docilitas, memoria, ingenium: 2 Voluntarias quae in Voluntate poſita magis proprio nomine virtutes appellantur. 7. In prima Claſſe maxime excellens, confiderationem & cognitionem coeleſtium. 8. Virtutes autem voluntatis eſſe praeſtantiſſimas. 9. Et ita concludit, Virtutem eſſe maxime expetendam, This is the ſumm of the lib. 5. de Finib. The Sun ſendeth them its moving influence, its Light, and Heat; The Earth ſupporteth them, and affordeth them fruit and maintenance and pleaſure: The Clouds yield them rain; the Air breath; and the Sea it ſelf is not unkind, and incommodious to them. Beaſts, Birds and Fiſhes, and all inferiour Creatures ſerve them! And yet much more mercy they receive from God.
§. 2. It is therefore manifeſt that God dealeth not with the ſinfull World according to the utmoſt rigor of Juſtice, nor puniſheth them as much as they deſerve.
For all theſe Mercies they have forfeited, and deſerved to be deprived of them.
Obj. But it is no mercy, which hardeneth them in ſin, and endeth in miſery: It is rather a puniſhment; as to give cold water to a man in a Feaver.
Anſw. 1. If it hardened them of its own nature, and not meerly by their abuſe, and if it ended in miſery by the deſignment of the Giver and the tendency of the gift, then were it as you ſay, no mercy but a Plague. But it is Mercy which in its nature and by the Donors will, hath a fitneſs and tendency to mens recovery, and to prevent their miſery, and they are commanded and intreated accordingly to uſe it; and are warned of the danger of abuſe.
Obj. But God knoweth when he giveth it them, that they will ſo abuſe it.
Anſw. Gods fore-knowledge or Omniſcience is his perfection, and will you argue from thence againſt his Mercy? His foreknowledge of mens ſin and miſery cauſeth them not: What if he foreknew them not? Were it any praiſe to him to be ignorant? And yet the Mercy would be but the ſame? If you will not be reconciled to Gods wayes, till he ceaſe to be Omniſcient, or till he prevent all the ſin and miſery which he foreknoweth, you will periſh in your enmity, and he will eaſily juſtifie his mercy againſt ſuch accuſations.
Obj. But God could give men ſo much more grace as to prevent mens ſin and miſery if he would.
Anſw. True: he is not unable: And ſo he could make every clod a tree, and every tree a beaſt, and every beaſt a man, and every man an Angel, as I ſaid before: but muſt he therefore do it?
Here note, that it is one thing to ſay of any Puniſhment, [This is ſo deſerved, that God may inflict it if he pleaſe, without Injuſtice, yea and thereby demonſtrate his Juſtice;] and another thing to ſay [This is ſo due that God muſt or will inflict it, if he will be juſt; unleſs a compenſation be made to Juſtice.] It is of the firſt ſort that I am now ſpeaking: For God may have variety of times, and meaſures, and kinds of Puniſhments, which he may uſe at his own choice, and yet not leave the ſin unpuniſhed finally: But whether he properly diſpenſe with any Law, which is determinate as to the penalty, I am not now to ſpeak, it being not pertinent to this place and ſubject.
§. 3. Therefore God doth in ſome ſort and meaſure, pardon ſin to the generality of mankinde, while he remitteth ſome meaſure of the deſerved puniſhment.
To remit or forgive the Puniſhment is ſo far to forgive the ſin; for forgiveneſs as to execution, is but non punire proceeding from commiſeration or mercy. And it is certain by all the Mercy beſtowed on them, that God remitteth ſomething of the puniſhment, which in Law and Juſtice he might inflict. Though this be not a total pardon, it is not therefore none at all.
§. 4. The Goodneſs of Gods Nature, with this univerſal Experience of the World, poſſeſſeth all mens minds with this apprehenſion of God, that he is gracious, mercifull, long-ſuffering, and ready to forgive a capable ſubject, upon terms conſiſtent with his truth and honour, and the common good.
Saepe levant poenas, erepta que lumina redunt Cum bene peccati poenituiſſe vident. Ovid. 1. de Pont.Its true, that ſelf-love and ſelf-flattery doth cauſe men to think of the Mercy of God, as indulgent to their luſts, and ſuitable to their fleſhly deſires; and therefore their conceits are none of the meaſure of his mercy: But yet it may be perceived, that this foreſaid conception of God as Mercifull and ready to forgive a capable ſubject, is warranted by the ſobereſt Reaſon,Diſſenſio ab aliis; à te reconciliatio incipiat: Cum ignoſcls ita beneficium tuum tempera, ut non ignoſcere videaris, ſed abſolvere; Quia graviſſimum poenae genus eſt, contumelioſa venia. Senec. Pulchrum eſt vitam donare petenti ſtatim. Theb. and is not bred by ſin and error: For the wiſe and better, and leſs ſinfull any is, the more he is inclined to ſuch thoughts of God as of a part of his Perfection.
§. 5. This apprehenſion is increaſed in Mankinde by Gods obliging us, to forgive one another.
For though it doth not follow, that God muſt forgive all that which he bindeth us to forgive, for the Reaſons before expreſſed; Yet we muſt believe, that the Laws of God proceed from that Wiſdom and Goodneſs which is his Perfection, and that they bear the Image of them; and that the obeying of them tendeth to form us more to his Image our ſelves, and to make us Holy as he is Holy: And therefore that this Command of God to Man, to be mercifull and forgive, doth intimate to us, that mercy and forgiveneſs are agreeable and pleaſing unto God.
Nec ex templo ara, nec ex humana natura miſerecordia tollenda eſt; inquit Phocion, in Stobaeo.§. 6. God cannot caſt away from his Love and from Felicity, any ſoul which truly loveth Him above all, and which ſo repenteth of his ſin, as to turn to God in Holineſs of Heart and Life.
Here ſeemeth to ariſe before us a conſiderable difficulty. That God can finde in his heart to damn one that truly loveth him,Facilius iis ignoſcitur, qui non perſeverare, ſed ab errato ſe revocare moliuntur: eſt enim humanum peccare, ſe belluinum in errore perſeverare. Cicer▪ in Vatin. and is ſanctified, is incredible: Becauſe 1. then Gods own Image ſhould be in Hell, and a Saint be damned. 2. Becauſe then the Creature ſhould be readyer to love God, than God to love him. 3. Then a Soul in Hell ſhould have holy deſires, Prayers, Praiſes, and other acts of Love. 4. And a Soul capable of the glorifying mercy of God, ſhould miſs of it: This therefore is not to be believed: For God cannot but take complacency in them that love him, and bear his Image: And thoſe will be happy that God taketh complacency in.
And yet on the other ſide, Do not the ſins of them that love God, deſerve death and miſery, according to his Law? And might he not inflict that on men which they deſerve? Doth not Juſtice require puniſhment on them,Poenitenti optimus eſt portus, mutatio confilii. Cicer. Phil. 1, 2. that yet ſin not away the Love of God, nor a ſtate of Holineſs? To this ſome anſwer, that all thoſe that conſiſt with Love and Holineſs, are Venial ſins, which deſerve only temporal chaſtiſement, and not perpetual miſery: I rather anſwer,Beatus eſt cui vel in ſenectute contigerit, ut ſapentiam, veraſ que opiniones conſequi poſſit. Cicer. de finib. 1. That all ſin conſidered in it ſelf, abſtracted from the Cauſe which counterballanceth it, and procureth pardoning mercy, doth deſerve perpetual miſery; and therefore ſo do the ſins of the Beſt in themſelves conſidered: But that Grace which cauſeth their Sanctification, and their Love to God,Read Cato's ſpeech in Cicer. de fin. l. 3. that the Principle of ſelf-love and preſervation is the ſeed of virtue; and how every thing abhorreth its own hurt and deſtruction. doth conjunctly cauſe the pardon of their ſins; ſo that God will not deal with ſuch as in rigour they deſerve. 2. And if the ſin of any that Love God, ſhould provoke him to caſt them into Hell, it followeth not, that one that loveth God in ſenſu compoſito, ſhould be damned: For God hath an Order in his Puniſhments: And firſt he would withdraw his Grace from ſuch a one, and leave him to himſelf; and then he will no longer Love God; and ſo it is not a Lover of God that would be damned.
§. 7. The ſinfull World is not ſo farr forſaken of God, as to be ſhut up under deſperation, and utter impoſſibility of recovery and ſalvation.
For if that were ſo, they were not in Via, or under an obligation to uſe any means, or accept of any mercy, in order to their recovery, nor could they rationally do it, or be perſwaded to it. There is no means to be uſed where there is no end to be attained, and no hope of ſucceſs.
§. 8. The light of Nature, Scelerum ſi bene poenitet, eradenda cupidinis, prava ſunt elementa. Hor.and the foreſaid dealings of God with men, continuing them under his Government in Via, and manifold mercies, helps and means, do generally perſwade the Conſciences of men that there are certain Duties required of them, and certain Means to be uſed by them, in order to procure their recovery and ſalvation, and to ſcape the miſery deſerved.
He that ſhall deny this, will turn the Earth into a Hell: he will teach men to forbear all means and duties which tend to their converſion, pardon and ſalvation, and to juſtifie themſelves in it, and deſperately give over all Religion, and begin the horrours and language of the damned.
Omnibus natura dedit fundamenta ſemenque virtutum. Se…. ep. 110.§. 9. The very command of God to uſe his appointed means for mens recovery, doth imply that it ſhall not be in vain, and doth not only ſhew a poſſibility, but ſo great a hopefulneſs of the ſucceſs to the obedient, as may encourage them cheerfully to undertake it, and carry it through.
No man that is wiſe and merciful, will appoint his ſubject a courſe of means to be uſed, for a thing impoſſible to be got: or will ſay, Labour thus all thy life for it, but thou ſhalt be never the nearer it, if thou do. If ſuch an Omniſcient Phyſician do but bid me uſe ſuch means for my cure and health, I may take his command for half a promiſe, if I obey.
Homines ad Deos nulla re propius accedunt, quàm ſalutem homonibus dando Nihil habet fortuna majus quàm ut poſſit▪ nec natura melius quàm ut velit, ſervare. Cic. p…o Ligar. Notitia peccati, initium ſalutos. S…n. Sa…th Epictetus, as our Parents deliver us to School-maſters to be nurtured, ſo God delivereth us to our Conſciences, whoſe nature is not to be to temned.§. 10. Conſcience doth bear witneſs againſt impenitent ſinners, that the cauſe of their ſin, and the hinderance of their recovery is in themſelves; and that God is not unwilling to forgive and ſave them, if they were but meet for forgiveneſs and ſalvation.
Even now mens conſciences take God's part againſt themſelves, and tell them, that the Infinite Good, that communicateth all the Goodneſs to the creature, which it hath, is not ſo likely to be the cauſe of ſo odious a thing as ſin, nor of mans deſtruction as he himſelf. If I ſee a Sheep lie torn in the high-way, I will ſooner ſuſpect the Wolf than a Lamb to be the cauſe, if I ſee them both ſtand by: and if I ſee a Child drown'd in ſcalding water, I will ſooner ſuſpect that he fell in by folly and heedleſneſs himſelf, than that his Mother wilfully caſt him in. Is not ſilly naughty man much liker to be the cauſe of ſin and miſery, than the wiſe and gracious God? Much more hereafter will the ſinners conſcience juſtifie God.
§. 11. God hath planted in the common nature of mankind an inſeparable inclination to Truth as Truth, and to Good as Good, and a Love to themſelves, and a deſire to be happy, and a lothneſs to be miſerable; together with ſome reverence and honour of God, (till they have extinguiſhed the belief of his being) and a hatred and horrour of the Devil, (while they believe he is): All which are a fit Stock to plant Reforming-truths in, and Principles fit to be improved for mens converſion, Nemo adeo ferus eſt▪ ut non miteſcere poſſit Si modo culturae patientem commodet aurem. Horat. ep. 1. Miſerum te eſſe judico▪ qui nunquam fueris miſer: traxiſti ſine adverſario vitam: Opus eſt ad ſui not tiam experimento. Quid quiſque poſſit non niſi tentando didicit Sen. de pro. Non omnino Diis exoſos eſſe, qui in hac vita cum aerumnarum varietate luctantur; ſed eſſe arcanas cauſas, &c. Macrob. l. 1. Saturn. Rem pateris modicam & mediocri bile ferendam Si flectas oculos majora ad crimina — Juven.and the excitation and improvement of them, is much of that recovering work.
§. 12. Frequent and deep conſideration being a great means of mans recovery, (by improving the truth which he conſidereth, and reſtoring Reaſon to the Throne) it is a great advantage to man that he is naturally a Reaſoning and Thoughtful creature, his Intellect being propenſe to activity and knowledge.
§. 13. And it is his great advantage, that his frequent and great afflictions have a great tendency to awake his Reaſon to conſideration, and to bring it to the heart, and make it effectual.
And conſequently that God caſteth us into ſuch a Sea and wilderneſs of troubles, that we ſhould have theſe quickening Monitors ſtill at hand.
§. 14. And it is man's great advantage for his recovery, that Vanity and Vexation are ſo legibly written on all things here below; and that fruſtrated expectations, and unſatisfied minds, and the fore-knowledge of the end of all, and bodily pains which find no eaſe, with multitudes of bitter experiences, do ſo abundantly help him to eſcape the ſnare (the love) of preſent things.
For all men that periſh are condemned for loving the creature above the Creator: and therefore ſuch a world, which appeareth ſo evidently to be vain, and empty,*Quotidie morimur, quotidie enim demitur aliqua pars vitae: & tunc quoque cum creſcimus vita decreſcit. Hunc ipſum quem agimus diem, cum morte dividimus. Sen. ep. 24. Natura nihil hominibus brevitate vitae praeſtitit melius. Id. Nihil aeque tibi proficiet ad temperantiam omnium rerum, quàm frequens cogitatio brevis aevi & hujus incerti. Quicquid facis reſpice ad mortem. Sen. ep. 25. and deceitful, and vexatious, and which all men know will turn them off at laſt with as little comfort, as if they had never ſeen a day of pleaſure in it; I ſay, ſuch a world, one would think, ſhould give us an antidote againſt its own deceit, and ſufficiently wean us from its inordinate love. At leaſt this is a very great advantage.
§. 15. It is alſo a common and great advantage for man's recovery, that his life here is ſo ſhort, and his death ſo certain, as that reaſon muſt needs tell him, that the pleaſures of ſin are alſo ſhort, and that he ſhould always live as parting with this world, and ready to enter into another.
The nearneſs of things maketh them to work on the mind of man the more powerfully: diſtant things, though ſure and great, do hardly awaken the mind to their reception and due conſideration. If men lived 600 or 1000 years in the world, it were no wonder if covetouſneſs, and carnality, and ſecurity made them like Devils, and worſe than wild beaſts to one another: But when men cannot chuſe but know, that they muſt certainly and ſhortly ſee the end of all that ever this world will do for them, and are never ſure of another hour; this is ſo great a help to ſober conſideration, and converſion, that it muſt be monſtrous ſtupidity and brutiſhneſs that muſt overcome it.
Magna pars peccatorum tollitur, ſi peccati teſtis adſtat. Sen. What then may the preſence of God do? Clemens Alexand. was poſitive in it, that Philoſophy was bleſs'd to the ſaving of many Heathens who obeyed it. Tunc eſt conſummata infaelicitas, ubi turpia non ſolum delectant, ſed etiam placent: & deſinit eſſe remedio locus, ubi quae fuerant vitia, mores fiunt. Sen. Prov. At norbi pernicioſiores plureſque ſunt animi quam corporis — Quo vero probari poteſt, ut ſibi mederi animus non poſſit, cum ipſe medicinam corporis animus invenerit? Cumque omnes qui corpore ſe curati paſſi ſunt, non continuo convaleſcant: Animi autem qui ſe ſana i voluerint, praeceptiſque ſapientum paracrint, ſine ulla dubitatione ſanentur. Cic. Tuſcul. l. 3. p. …70.§. 16. It is alſo a great advantage for man's converſion, that all the world revealeth God to him, and every thing telleth him of the Power, and Wiſdom, and Goodneſs, and Love of God; and of his conſtant Preſence; and ſo ſheweth him an object which ſhould as eaſily over-power all ſenſual objects, which would ſeduce his ſoul, as a mountain will weigh down a feather.
Though we ſee not God, (which would ſure put an end to the controverſie whether we ſhould be ſenſual or holy) yet while we have a glaſs as big as all the world, which doth continually repreſent him to us, one would think that no reaſonable creature ſhould ſo much over-look him, as to be carried from him with the trifles of this world.
§. 17. Men that have not only the foreſaid obligations, to Holineſs, Juſtice and Sobriety in their natures, but alſo all theſe Hopes, and Helps, and Means of their recovery from ſin to God, and yet fruſtrate all, and continue in ungodlineſs, unrighteouſneſs, or intemperance, impenitently to the end, are utterly deſtitute of all juſt excuſe, why God ſhould not puniſh them with endleſs miſery: which is the caſe of all that periſh.
§. 18. All men ſhall be judged by the Law which was given them of God to live by.
For it is the ſame Law, which is, Regula Officii & Judicii: God will not condemn men for not believing a truth, which mediately or immediately was never revealed to them, and which they had no means to know: nor for not obeying a Law which was never promulgated to them, nor they could not come to be acquainted with: Phyſical impoſſibilities are not the matter of crimes, or of condemnation.
§. 19. If any perſons are brought by theſe means alone to repent unfeignedly of an ungodly, uncharitable and intemperate life, and to love God unfeignedly as their God, above all; and to live a holy, obedient life: God will not condemn ſuch perſons, though they wanted ſupernatural Revelation of his will. (As I ſhewed before §. 6.)
§. 20.Sunt enim ingeniis noſtris ſemina innata virtutum, quae ſi adoleſcere liceret, ipſa nos ad beatam vitam natura perduceret. Nunc autem ſimul ac editi ſumus in lucem, in omni continuo pravitate verſamur, &c. Cic. 3. Tuſcul. N.B. That when Philoſophers ſay, That all is good which Nature teacheth, &c. they mean by Nature, the true and ſound conſtitution of the Soul, which they diſtinguiſh from its diſeaſes and corruption. When ſinners ſtand at many degrees diſtant from God and a holy life, and mercy would draw them nearer him by degrees, they that have help and mercy ſufficient in ſuo genere, to have drawn them nearer God, and refuſed to obey it, do forfeit the further helps of mercy, and may juſtly periſh and be forſaken by him; though their help was not immediately ſufficient to all the further degrees of duty which they were to do.
Theſe things as clear in their proper light, I ſtand not to prove, becauſe I would not be unneceſſarily tedious to the Reader.
And ſo much of GODLINESS, or Religion, as revealed by Natural Light.
Obj. But all Heathens and Infidels find not all this in the Book of Nature, which you ſay is there.
Anſw. I ſpeak not of what men do ſee, but what they may ſee, if they will improve their Reaſon. All this is undeniably legible in the Book of Nature; but the infant, the ideot, the illiterate, the ſcholar, the ſmatterer, the Doctor, the conſiderate, the inconſiderate, the ſenſual, the blinded, and the willing diligent enquirer do not equally ſee and read that which is written in the ſame characters to all.